How Much Is Your Integrity Worth?
Posted on Mar 23, 2008 under Commentary |It seems that over in London an ATM machine started paying out twice as much money as was asked for. Apparently it was doing this for a couple of hours until the machine finally ran out of cash. Hundreds of people were drawn to cash in on the mistake and people were calling up their friends telling them to come take advantage. They were requesting the daily maximum of 300 pounds and being given 600 pounds while their receipt only showed the asked for 300.
After reading this, I asked myself what I would have done if I were in the same situation. I’m sure for a lot of people something like this would be pretty tempting; however, I decided a long time ago that being honest in all things was more important than a quick buck. 300 pounds is a decent chunk of change, but is it really worth selling your integrity for? I would hope not.
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by The Bald Monkey, on March 23 2008 @ 3:44 pm
Good call man. When I was in college my freshman year I went in to pick up my scholarship check and noticed that they had overpaid me by about $1500. My roommate wanted me to just pocket it and chalk it up to it being their fault. But, being the honest guy I am, I took it back in and showed them their mistake. They eventually got it all straightened out.
I like to say I turned it back in because I’m just a good guy, and not focus on the fact that the main reason I gave it back was because I just knew that if I kept it, they would come after me at some point demanding I return the overpayment they made.
But hey, I was a freshman in college. I have grown since then and I know now that I would do it for the right reasons.
My roommate on the other hand gives me a hard time to this day about not keeping it to buy us a new stereo for our apartment.
by dawn, on March 23 2008 @ 9:58 pm
This sort of behavior makes me sad - what is wrong with people? It seems like the line between wrong and right has been blurred almost none existent! Even though somebody else might not know if I do something wrong - I KNOW WHEN I DO SOMETHING WRONG… and God definitely knows when I do something wrong! I also believe in “what goes around comes around.” Every time I’ve done the right thing - something better has come along! It’s true…
by fiscalmusings, on March 23 2008 @ 10:26 pm
Thanks for your thoughts. I wish more people were honest in the things they do.
by creasy_bear, on March 24 2008 @ 11:28 pm
i’ve seen enough episodes of ‘my name is earl’ to discourage me from ever doing something like this.